Online petition against new textbooks from 2016-17

A Bengaluru resident has started a petition on Change.org asking Chief Minister Siddaramaiah not to implement new textbooks for the State syllabus schools in the academic year 2016-17. The petition started four days ago by Balaji S alleges that the government and state education department have not been transparent in their approach to the revision of textbooks.A Textbook Revision Committee headed by writer Baragur Ramachandrappa had been formed to remove errors and ‘saffronisation’ from the state syllabus textbooks.”When the Centre is in the process of formulating a National Education Policy in 2017 to be implemented by 2018, why is the state hurrying to publish new textbooks based on a new state syllabus ?” the petition reads. It has received support from over 1,000 people. Earlier this month, the BJP appealed to Governor Vajubhai Vala to prevent the state government from implementing the new textbooks, saying that it was being rushed through.Meanwhile, the committee will submit the revised textbooks to the government on January 15.